NEWBERG - On Saturday, March 20, the 12's Black team competed in the Willamette Valley Friendship Tournament at Newberg High School  We played inconsistently in the morning and barely got out of our pool as the number two seed through a points tie-breaker. 

Our first match of the day was against North Pacific Juniors (a 14's team ranked #28 that was added to the tournament).  We played this team tough in the first game losing 26-28.  Sonja served really well, winning points on twelve serves.  We did not play as well in the second game and lost 17-25.  Overall, it was a good experience playing against older girls. In our second match, we faced  Clark County Juniors.  We easily won the first game (25-13) behind thirteen straight serves from Bailee.  Anjola and Rachel combined for five big hits and Emma had one super dig.  We did not play as well in the second game and lost 21-25. In our final game in pool play we faced NW Excel Silver.  Again, we just couldn't put together two strong games during our morning matches.  We lost the first game 21-25.  The highlight of the game was a great block by Anjola.  In game two, we had to hold NW Excel to 20 or fewer points to advance to the championship bracket.  It was a tight match throughout.  Emiko had some strong serves.  We took the lead at 21-20 and had to win out to secure advancement into the championship.  Fortunately, Bailee finished off the match with four straight serves and we won 25-20. We advanced to the championship bracket on points 46-45.

Our first match in the championship bracket was against #3 Roseburg.  This is a team we beat early in the season, but had lost to twice recently.  Maybe it was our change of uniforms or the fact that we were playing a strong team, but we came to play.  We won a tight first game 25-23.  Everyone played really well.  Sonja had four aces and Anjola had two big hits and a block.  In the second game with the score tied at 10-10, Bailee served five straight to give us a little cushion.  Seven different players won points on their serve.  We won the second game 25-17.  In the championship game, we once again faced the 14's team Pacific Juniors.  Jaime and Rachel served really well, but we lost game one 16-25.  We knew we could beat these girls and came out in the second game to prove it.  With the game tied at ten, Rachel had a big block that got us going.  Sonja, Jaime, and Bailee served well.  Clinging to a 22-20 lead, Anjola had a huge hit to win a point.  We closed out the match with a hit from Emiko to win 26-24.  In game three, we were tied at 6-6, but we let them go on a service run and ended up losing 7-15.  Once again, it was another strong tournament.  We were the top 12's team today and took a 14's team to a third game.  It is just a matter of time before we win one of these tournaments.  

Overall record: 20-10
CEVA Rank: #4